In semiconductor manufacturing, an automatic test equipment is used to test an integrated circuit (IC) device (known as the Device Under Test (DUT) or Unit Under Test (UUT)) e.g., to characterize electrical properties, detect abnormalities, and evaluate product quality. During test operations, test signals are provided to the DUT and the resultant output signals generated from the DUT are evaluated against expectation values.
An automated test equipment can be controlled by test control software running in an external control apparatus, typically a personal computer. The control apparatus can execute test plans configured in the software in response to operators' input and thereby generate control signals for the operations of the test equipment. The test control software can render a graphical user interface through which a user can provide instructions to control test operations, such as selecting a test plan, configuring a test, setting test signal parameters, etc.
Conventionally, a user of the test equipment interacts with the test control software by using a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse that are attached to the control apparatus. As the control apparatus is typically located some distance from the test equipment in a production facility, e.g., in a different room, a user is unable to simultaneously perform manual operations (e.g., debugging the load board) at the test head and interact with the control apparatus. Thus, the user often feels tethered to the vicinity of the control apparatus.
Moreover, the keyboard and mouse often superimpose an inefficient mechanism for using graphical user interface that the test engineer navigates often also using complex and cumbersome syntax in order to program and interact with the test control software.
In addition, a control apparatus is usually a computer loaded with non-work related application programs as well as the test control software. The computer is often misused by equipment operations for non-work related activities, e.g., Internet surfing and on-line chatting, etc.